Global climate models show that precipitation will generally increase due to Less heat would get absorbed, which could slow the increased warming. A warmer climate could cause more water to be held in the atmosphere, leading to an increase in cloudiness and altering the amount of sunlight that reaches the surface of the Earth. Even small changes in cloud amount, location and type could have large consequences. Clouds have an enormous impact on Earth's climate, reflecting about one-third of the total amount of sunlight that hits the Earth's atmosphere back into space. A feedback that increases an initial warming is called a 'positive feedback.' A feedback that reduces an initial warming is a 'negative feedback.' 3 The global distribution of aerosols is being tracked from the ground and from satellites.Ĭlimate feedbacks: processes that can either amplify or diminish the effects of climate forcings. Other kinds of particles such as black carbon have a warming effect.

Sulfate aerosols, which result from burning coal, biomass, and volcanic eruptions, tend to cool the Earth. Very small airborne particles come from both human and natural sources and have various effects on climate. 2 These greenhouse gases absorb and then re-radiate heat in Earth’s atmosphere, which causes increased warming.

Burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2) from 280 parts per million to 393 parts per million. Since the industrial revolution, concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane (CH 4), and nitrous oxide (N 2O) have risen in the atmosphere. 1 The solar cycle is incorporated into climate models. The Sun has an 11-year sunspot cycle, which causes about 0.1% of the variation in the Sun’s output. Scientists also use evidence from proxy measurements, such as sunspot counts going back centuries and ancient tree rings, to measure the amount of Sun that reaches Earth’s surface. Solar radiation is the source of heat for planet Earth. Earth system science is the study of how scientific data stemming from various fields of research, such as the atmosphere, oceans, land ice and others, fit together to form the current picture of our planet as a whole, including its changing climate.Ĭlimate scientists separate factors that affect climate change into three categories: forcings, feedbacks, and tipping points.įorcings: The initial drivers of climate.

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